CSIRO looks to Britain to outsource climate research

Peter Hannam and Adam Morton

CSIRO is considering outsourcing climate modelling work to Britain - a step a senior executive conceded would reduce Australia's strengths in the field.

Grilled by Labor and Greens senators at a Senate inquiry in Hobart over cuts to up to half its climate research workforce, CSIRO executive Alex Wonhas said the organisation was considering contracting some work to counterparts in the British Met Office.

Alex Wonhas, a senior CSIRO executive, says contracting out climate work to Britain is an option. Photo: Supplied

That criticism included a New York Times editorial on Friday, which described the cuts as based on "a deplorable misunderstanding of the importance of basic research into what is arguably the greatest challenge facing the planet".

A CSIRO spokesman said the organisation was looking to deepen its existing collaboration with the Met Office, rather than outsourcing work. "It is part of consultation and discussions with stakeholders about how research in the climate area can be maintained and maximised in the future," he said.

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In a sometimes testy exchange at the Senate inquiry, Dr Wonhas revealed agency officials had used private email addresses, outside the the CSIRO server, to discuss plans to cut climate and other programs ahead of the announcement.

The CSIRO spokesman later explained: "There was concern that distress may be caused to staff if options for staff reduction, which are not yet finalised, were leaked or distributed."

Opposition industry spokesman Kim Carr described the evidence of the CSIRO executives who appeared before the committee - Dr Wonhas, who oversees environment, energy and resources, and chief financial officer Hazel Bennett - as startling.

"It's extremely concerning that senior executives think they could increase the security of documents about the latest round of cuts by directing staff to use personal emails," he said.

"The motive might have been innocent, but it is just incredibly inappropriate and potentially a breach of the law."

The inquiry had earlier heard that managers at CSIRO's major research partners, including the Australian Antarctic Division and Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, learnt of the cuts either just before or as they were publicly announced.

They agreed they had no idea what the ramifications of the cuts would be, but feared they could dismantle or dramatically reduce scientific programs in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica.

Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies executive director Richard Coleman said: "I've had discussions with some of the key people at CSIRO in Hobart ... but they can't really tell me."

Senior CSIRO scientist John Church told the inquiry that CSIRO chief Larry Marshall's suggestion that climate change research was no longer needed was "incorrect, naive and misleading".

He said Australia had long been an attractive play to work for the world's leading scientists, but that had already begun to change since the announcement.

"Our reputation is now trashed internationally," Dr Church said. "We could not attract those people again at this time."

Appearing in a personal capacity, Dr Church and fellow CSIRO scientist Richard Matear questioned the leadership of the organisation, saying they did not appear to understand how science worked.

Dr Matear said of the cuts and the way they had been handled: "It's just a really crazy way to run a scientific organisation."

Committee chair Peter Whish-Wilson, a Greens Senator from Tasmania, said the hearing exposed the "catastrophically haphazard nature" of the decision-making process that led to the cuts.

He said the Australian Antarctic Division was still yet to be consulted on the cuts and about 50 doctoral students at the University of Tasmania did not know if their CSIRO co-supervisors would still have a job in coming weeks.

"The idea that CSIRO management are now looking to reduce the impact of the climate cuts by outsourcing climate modelling work to the UK is alarming," Senator Whish-Wilson said.

"How can Australia gain the innovation dividends from our investment by sending the work overseas?"

The Senate inquiry was jointly convened by the Greens and Labor. No Coalition Senators appeared on the committee on Tuesday. The next hearing is in Melbourne on Friday.